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US 9,039,304 B2Granted
Combined optical and electrical interface
OwnerJamyuen Ko, Hengju Cheng +1inventors
InventorsJamyuen Ko, Hengju Cheng, Simon S. Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A connection port provides electrical and/or optical interface capability. The combined electrical and optical interface port may include an optical communication light engine within the connection port itself. The connection port includes a connector housing, an electrical interface assembly, and an optical interface assembly incorporated together. One implementation of the optical communication light engine includes a laser diode to generate optical signals, a photo diode to receive optical signals, and an optical integrated circuit (IC) to control optical interface.
Claims28
An apparatus comprising:
- a connector housing to provide a physical connection interface to a mating connector;
- an electrical contact assembly physically incorporated with the connector housing, to provide an electrical input/output (I/O) interface;
- an optical assembly physically incorporated with the connector housing, to provide an optical I/O interface, the optical assembly including a light engine to actively generate and receive and process optical signals;
- and
- a floating optical lens non-rigidly disposed within the connector housing to interface and align an optical fiber to an optical lens of the optical assembly;
- wherein the connection interface allows either electrical I/O or optical I/O or both via the connector housing.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing an electrical input/output (I/O) interface path via a connector housing that provides mechanical coupling to a mating connector housing;
- providing a floating optical lens non-rigidly disposed within the connector housing to interface and align an optical fiber to an optical lens of the optical assembly;
- and
- providing an optical I/O interface path with an active light engine housed in the connector housing, wherein the light engine actively generates and receives and processes optical signals in accordance with a protocol of the electrical I/O interface path.
1 more element
An apparatus comprising:
- a connector housing having an electrical contact assembly fixed within the connector housing, the electrical contact assembly to provide an electrical input/output (I/O) interface;
- and
- a lens component non-rigidly disposed within the connector housing, the lens component having an alignment mechanism to align an optical lens of the lens component with a mating connector, the lens component to provide an optical I/O interface.
An apparatus comprising:
- an optical lens component to couple to an optical input/output (I/O) interface of a connector of a printed circuit board (PCB) having both electrical and optical I/O interfaces to provide both an optical I/O path and an electrical I/O path to a peripheral that connects externally to the PCB, the optical lens component including a fiber guide channel to interface an optical fiber to a lens of the optical lens component;
- an optical connector component to couple to an optical signal termination component of the PCB, the termination component to convert signals between optical and electrical, the optical connector component including a fiber guide channel to interface an optical fiber to the termination component;
- and
- at least one optical fiber to extend between the fiber guide channel of the optical lens component and the fiber guide channel of the optical connector component to convey signals optically over the PCB between the optical lens component and the optical connector component.
1 more element
An apparatus comprising:
- a lens component to couple to an optical input/output (I/O) interface of a connector of a printed circuit board (PCB) having both electrical and optical I/O interfaces to provide both an optical I/O path and an electrical I/O path to a peripheral that connects externally to the PCB, the optical lens component including a fiber guide channel to interface an optical fiber to a lens of the lens component;
- an optical connector component to couple to an optical signal termination component of the PCB, the termination component to convert signals between optical and electrical, the optical connector component including at least one fiber guide channel to interface an optical fiber between the lens component and the termination component;
- and
- a latch to mechanically secure the optical connector component to the lens component, the latch including a spring mechanism to secure the optical connector component to the lens component with a spring force exerted by the spring mechanism on the optical connector component towards to the lens component;
- wherein the spring force exerted by the latch is to align the optical fiber of the optical connector component to the optical lens.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- mounting an optical connector component to a latch;
- wherein the optical connector component includes at least one fiber guide channel to interface an optical fiber between a lens component installed on a printed circuit board (PCB) and a termination component on the PCB that converts signals between optical and electrical, the lens component to couple to an optical input/output (I/O) interface of a connector of the PCB having both electrical and optical I/O interfaces to provide both an optical I/O path and an electrical I/O path to a peripheral that connects externally to the PCB;
- and
- mechanically securing the optical connector component to the lens component via the latch;
- wherein the latch secures the optical connector component to the lens component with a spring force exerted by the latch on the optical connector component towards to the lens component;
- and
- wherein the spring force exerted by the latch aligns the optical fiber of the optical connector component to the optical lens.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.